Re: Did Anyone Else See This ? (fwd)

Larry Klaes (larryk@ns.village.com)
Tue, 13 Aug 1996 10:57:04 -0400 (EDT)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 18:37:55 -0400
From: Eric M. Bram <gradivus@dreamscape.com>
To: astro@store-forward.mindspring.com
Subject: Re: Did Anyone Else See This ?

Harry Taylor wrote:
 
> You may have seen the NOSS formation of ocean surveillance satellites.
> These are "officially" secret, and you won't find them listed by NASA,
> however, their elements are regularly published by Ted Molczan of the
> Canadian Space Society.

I saw something interesting once, and supposed it was some sort of 
satellite, but never figured out what. Gazing upward from Big Bend park 
in Texas one night in later December 1978 I saw a star-like white light 
flash on and off about 5 times in rapid succession in about 1 second -- 
like five white "dits", about the brightness of a 3'rd or 4'th magnitude 
star. Then about a minute later another 5 flashes about 30 degrees to the 
south of that, then another minute later yet another 5 flashes, a further 
30 degrees or so to the south.

This was a clear night, in a primitive wilderness area with no ambient 
noises -- if it was from an aircraft it had to be at least U-2 height (no 
sound at all). I figured maybe a military polar orbit satellite doing 
laser ranging experiments, but who knows?

-- 
Eric M. Bram
gradivus@dreamscape.com

-- Mar sali se muni --